Someone He Could Not See
by Emerald Twin Blade
Summary: Elliot doesn't want to go to sleep... He doesn't want to have any more nightmares. --But the nightmares are only beginning. -Spoiler? Not sure.-


**Someone He Could Not See**

_A Pandora Hearts One-Shot_

By Emerald Twin Blade

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disclaimer: **Emerald Twin Blade** does not own _Pandora Hearts_ or anything in this fic that you're seen/read from the anime/manga.

warning(s): **SPOILER**! Well... kinda. It's not been announced yet, so this might be _totally_ wrong... but still. Don't read if you're not too fond of Might-Be Spoilers.

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How long had it been since he began to experience these nightmares?

Weeks? Months? Or _years_?

The sky had long since fallen dark, tiny stars twinkling to life in the night and providing little to no light. The quarter moon made up for the stars' lack of brilliance, shining enough to illuminate the entire city, and then some.

His window had been left open, the off-white curtains hanging around it swaying as a gentle breeze entered the silent room. Everything else was motionless in the bedroom. The bed was occupied by the youngest living heir to the Nightray dukedom, who lay beneath warm cotton covers. Light blue eyes stared at the plain ceiling above him, light irises laced with the fright of a child.

Elliot turned onto his right side, adjusting the sheets to wrap him tightly in their warmth. His eyelids drooped some, but they did not fall completely closed. It was getting harder and harder to keep himself awake, but the constant reminder of what awaited him once he fell unconscious gave him the will to keep trying. He did not want to experience such a tragedy… Not again.

His firm grip on the bed sheets suddenly slackened as little white spots floated over his quickly-blurring vision, feeling an irritatingly familiar calmness fall over his body.

_No… I can't… I can't go to sl—_ His ear twitched at that time, alerting him of an unexpected and sudden sound somewhere near him.

It happened just as he was about to lose himself to the darkness; the sound of soft breathing filled his ears. The fear that he felt before doubled in his chest, making his heartbeat quicken. With the appearance of such a fright within him, was it normal that he was not pulled into full wakefulness?

His body was still quite limp and he could no longer feel or move his limbs. His mind was fuzzy and he could not think straight. Dull colors swam over his vision through half open blue eyes, absolutely _shooting_ his false sense of security.

Was there someone else in the room? Elliot wanted to open his mouth and ask aloud, but found that he could not even do _that_. The fear inside of him had him shaking; what was going on? He swore that if it was Reo or Vincent at that late hour, he was going to _kill_ them.

There were no footsteps… no opening or closing of either the door or the window. The late night chill swept through the room, but, oddly, Elliot could not feel it. All he could do was listen to the steady breathing of someone he could not see.

His entire body suddenly jerked, everything straightening abruptly and his eyes widening in surprise. His surroundings had changed; he was no longer in his bedroom at the Nightray mansion. No matter where he looked, however, he could not spot a single glimmer of light. He was, as it appeared, enveloped in darkness.

With no light to illuminate the area, his eyes could not adjust. The breathing that he heard before had become louder, closer, and now came out in ragged huffs. He turned around quickly, trying to figure out where it was coming from.

**"**Who's there??!**"** the brunette shouted into the air, blind blue eyes squinting and attempting to correct themselves, **"**Show yourself!!**"**

Elliot spun around again, only to feel something solid collide with his side. He let out a breathy yelp as he fell to the nonexistent floor. Pain sprouted through his ribs, making him curl inward on himself. His arms wrapped around his stomach, his knees pulling themselves up to protect from another blow to the same place.

"**What a rude child…"** a soft, low voice murmured somewhere above him.

The young Nightray's eyes snapped open, trying to look up at his attacker. He felt a large gloved hand grab onto the top of his head, fingers twisting through light brown hair into a fist and yanking him up to his knees.

"A-ah!**"** he grunted, his head being tilted back by a painfully tight grip.

"**Are you scared…?"** the voice whispered into his ear, freezing cold breath making the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end, **"Do you want those memories to go away?"**

Elliot trembled, too scared to move. His heart gave an especially harsh _**THUMP**_ in his chest at the word **'**_memories_.**'** Did that mean that the nightmares he always had actually happened in real life?

His breath shook, his eyes going wide; did _he_ kill all those people? With a sword he did not even recognize? People he did not know… Men, women, and even children… all killed by the blade in his hand?

Tears formed in his eyes as he remembered the flaming setting, the pools and streams of blood, and the absence of Life in any and every human corpse that littered the rooms and corridors.

"I… did _that_…?**"**

Whatever it was that held him in place chuckled cruelly, **"In a previous life… yes."**

Elliot's heart stopped, **"**No…**"**

"**You gave the order to kill everyone in the city."**

"No, I—I didn't!**"**

The hand in his hair tightened agonizingly, making him wince and let out another yelp. He completely froze and felt as though everything had fallen apart the moment that soft, sadistic voice said his next words.

**"It was all your doing."**

"IT'S NOT!!" Elliot yelled at the top of his lungs, sitting up abruptly in bed and shoving the covers away from him.

He panted deeply, light blue eyes staring ahead of him at the dresser. A bead of sweat slid down the side of his face, showing just how much of a fright he had just had. He looked down at his hands, only to find that his knuckles had turned white from gripping the covers so tightly.

_Was that… really just a dream?_ He asked himself, picking up his right hand and holding it to his forehead.

Shivering, he wiped off the sweat from his temple, noticing that he was damp all over. Feeling uncomfortable, Elliot got out of bed, wearing nothing from dark blue boxers, and approached his dresser. He snatched the black towel that was folded at the edge of the piece of furniture, knowing that his servant Reo had placed it there for him _just in case_. He pressed his face into it, drying it and then moving it up to massage through his light brown hair.

Once he felt a little bit better, he tossed the towel back onto the dresser and shook his hair out a bit before looking into the mirror that was set on the wall.

He suddenly could not breathe.

Staring back at him from the mirror was a tall man dressed in all black, long, straight black hair framing his face. Black eyes stared back at him, a demonic red light shining in them. Elliot took a step backward, shutting his eyes and shaking his head again.

_Nothing's there… There's nothing there…_

When he reopened his eyes to look again, there really was nothing there.

But he could still hear the soft breathing of someone he could not see.


End file.
